How else is one to learn theffectiveness of their spoiler?

General Discussion
21

One can drive Faster as conditions and visibility allow.
The greatest concern is a tire blowout at higher speeds.
The tire pressures are displayed on the screen.

22

The worthlesspoiler should be removed.
All it does is add unneeded weight and create more drag.

23

Wrong. You can bet if they put it on the Prius it improves mpgs.

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24

Suspect done to make it look more cool and sporty.
A real spoiler is an inverted airfoil to make airflow push the rear of the vehicle down.
That causes more drag.

25

The Audi TT needed a rear spoiler to counter the lift the rear end was generating at higher speeds, not sure if there were reports from the US market but UK and Euro models were having the rear end loose grip under braking and the rear end lift was to blame. Prius is probably neutral in not adding either downforce or lift but for airflow over the rear end.

26

I do not think much of the idea that the Audi TT needed a rear spoiler to counter the lift the rear end was generating at higher speeds. Remember all the hubbub about do pickup trucks get better gas mileage with the tail gate up or down. The Audi spoiler provides negligee down thrust at normal operating speeds, or even at high speed. The Audi wing is positioned straight, and I would say it is there only for looks and the angle is designed to reduce drag and increase fuel economy and even its top speed


Remember the Audi is not operating at NASCAR Speeds. And when the Audi slows down, the vehicle still had the “lifting” from braking, but as the speeds drops, the down thrust is lost
 As has been written previously, the spoiler adds weight and perhaps, the weight adds more to reducing the lift than any down thrust


And to prove my point about spoilers and angles, Ryan Blaney is leading the NASCAR pack and check out the Spoiler on his Number 12 Car
 If it got any larger and any more angled up, it would be an air brake

spoiler

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27

Car and Driver’s test of a TT with the changes including the rear spoiler, from Feb 2000
caranddriver.com/reviews/a15140613/we-take-audis-tamed-tt-for-a-spin-first-drive-review/
There appeared to be a problem for Audi and its hot TT, as evidenced by a troubling number of high-profile, high-speed crashes, most of them in Europe, where speed limits are more theoretical. As we reported last month, a recall was issued, and Audi sought to soften the car’s handling by taking it closer to the character of a sedan, essentially widening the point where the driver begins to feel the car’s significant limits.

The engineers continue to defend the car’s original chassis settings, while quietly acknowledging that they recommended a rear spoiler to reduce lift at the rear axle, the prime source of the handling problems. Stylists resisted the spoiler.

“There was a lot of discussion during development, and we all decided not to include a spoiler,” admits Dr. Bernd Heissing, Audi’s head of chassis development. “Now, we’ve changed our minds.”

As mentioned, the TT’s flaw is primarily a Germany-only problem, because it’s the only country in Europe where it’s legal to exceed 80 mph. One TT driver was killed on a notorious high-speed autobahn curve. A second fatality occurred to an unbelted rear-seat passenger. Audi reports its accident investigation group has studied 22 totaled TTs. That may sound like a lot, but more than 40,000 TTs have been sold worldwide, and apparently the ratio of accidents is in line with that of other sports cars.

Audi says the main aim of the changes is to increase understeer, reduce lift-off oversteer, and improve high-speed stability. The TT coupe and roadster get modified front control arms with altered compliance in the mounting bushings. The front shocks are stiffer in compression and softer in rebound to reduce the pitch motion and weight transfer from rear to front when braking. The front anti-roll bar has been made one millimeter thicker, and the rear is 1mm smaller in diameter.

More obviously, all TTs get a small rear spoiler mounted to the decklid in a move aimed at reducing lift on the rear axle at high speeds. The TT has 148 pounds of lift at the rear axle at 125 mph without the spoiler, but only a 53-pound lift when the spoiler is fitted. By comparison, the BMW Z3 coupe generates 64 pounds of lift at 125 mph; the Mercedes-Benz SLK, 104 pounds of lift; and the Porsche Boxster, 68 pounds of lift. The chassis engineers claim they could have solved the problem without the spoiler, but this would have meant a significant increase in understeer at normal speeds, a trait they wanted to avoid. All TTs also get a version of VW’s switchable Electronic Stability Program (ESP).

Driving TTs old and new at Goodyear’s Luxembourg proving ground and on surrounding roads demonstrated the effectiveness of the changes, most obviously when you swap lanes and brake at speeds above 100 mph. No, not a condition you’re often likely to encounter, but for the record, the spoiler does its job, the tail is no longer wayward, and stability is much improved. The TT now inspires far greater confidence in such circumstances.

At less exciting speeds, it’s the steering that gives the modifications away. The suspension changes have the effect of slowing the steering, so turn-in is more gradual, and any given corner demands more lock.

It seems logical to expect that the Mercedes-Benz Vision SLR and the BMW Z8, two cleanly styled performance cars, will also need some kind of alteration to prevent the same lift-off and braking aero problems. The first preproduction Z8s are pure of shape, but spy photos show the car wearing a rear spoiler at testing at the NĂŒrburgring, which suggests BMW plans a modification. And Mercedes insiders admit the Vision SLR concept car’s underbody has already come in for revision to reduce aerodynamic lift at the rear.

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28

Also
 The Chrysler Crossfire has a rear spoiler that actuates at speed. The owner’s manual states that if the spoiler malfunctions and fails to actuate, do not exceed 50 mph.

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29

Did you remove the rear spoiler from your Lexus?

image
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30

2nd Gen TT’s came with a spoiler that actuates at speed If I recall correctly.

31

No. (Really called a spoiler?)
The light bar is the RX350h’spoiler.

(As a registered tree-hugger and Greenie, after a long distance transport, I would unscrew the four wing nuts securing the light bar to the luggage roof rails and stow the light bar inside the vehicle.)

32

Go search for “Gurney Flap” and educate yourself.

A spoiler can be used to reduce drag by “tripping” the air to allow it to fill the low pressure zone behind the car. That reduces drag.

Blowouts can happen when the tire has not lost a psi of pressure. The tire fails its internal contruction and then goes flat. Meanwhile, you are fighting for control at 130 mpg. Sky, ground, sky, ground
 ground


2 Likes
33

So, with all the “space age, rocket science” they put a lot of engineering into the steering system and unless the vehicle is driven at an “insane” Autobahn speed exceeding 80 MPH, then you should be just fine.

I live in the shadow of the Langley-NASA Research Center, and I have so many “Rocket Scientists” living just in my neighborhood that I should have a PhD, just from neighborhood gossip


Not knowing all the facts, but based on my deductive reasoning (as garnered from my many "bull-sessions with my PhD’d neighbors
) would a “full-size” spare tire installed in the rear of the trunk also have solved the problem


Remember, the greatest minds in India, landed on the Moon, but a thousand miles off target
 The greatest minds in Russia, landed on the Moon, but in the parlance of CarTalk, their “spoiler” did not actuate like on the TT, and it also “thudded”, and NASA’s latest venture, in conjunction with Astrobotic to put the Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander on the moon is adrift in space with and empty “gas tank
” And NASA’s “Artemis” mission to return to the Moon is delayed until at least September 2026, They claim it’s to work through the challenges associated with such a venture
 Yeah, like the fact that SpaceX’s Starship Mega Rocket will be needed and both times it has been launched, it exploded soon after take-off both times


Now, back to the posting, what is more important for the TT, Safety or Styling?

So, what be it guys? Spoil the beautiful of the rear deck with that “hideous spoiler” or install that “monstrosity” and save lives?

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34

Wrong again. Like @Mustangman said, they can be used to maintain airflow down the rear window, reducing turbulence and drag. That’s what the spoiler on the Prius does:
image

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35

Plus a spoiler and a wing are 2 different things. The Prius has a spoiler.

The picture I posted shows wings. Wings are like inverted airplane wings. Spoilers are not designed specifically to make downforce. They do MAKE downforce on some applications by their design but on others they reduce drag. On some, they do both.

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36

Spoiler? I ain’t seeno stinkin’ spoiler.
That be a drag reducer.
(Years ago my flight instructor laughed when I suggested dimpling the Cessna with golfball dimples to reduce windrag.)

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37

That’s the spoiler the Prius owner was talking about. And it is a ‘spoiler’. They can be different sizes, for different uses.

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38

Yes. My flight instructor said “Ground always wins.”

There is no way for me to test what will happen with a high speed tire blowout.
Such is why if I crash & burn, it wilbe away from others.
The tires have a H speed rating = 130 mph.

39

The thought of YOU flying an airplane is scary :fearful:

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40

2nd Generation TT’s have the spoiler automatically raise at 78mph and retract below 50mph to keep the clean styling at lower speeds while having a spoiler for downforce.